so for someone like Preloader, Swordsmith, Eric Smit, Stratton, and so on who have all the available mods pushing 23+ PSI you don't see how a hard pipe would benefit them?
In your own words it will, less things to snag on and create turbulence. Also there will be NO expansion, although no one has blown out the OEM stuff someone will and I wouldn't doubt that it happens soon. Hell a few people have already blown turbos and tranny's. Consumers want what they want and you wont change that.
One last time in case you didn't catch it before, if YOU don't want it fine but you wont be able to convince the people who have work done that it won't benefit us.
I wont ever tell anyone how to spend their money. Im saying collectively as a group (sonic enthusiasts) , we should be looking into other things than hardpipes. If people are already blowing transmissions and turbos, maybe we should look into getting gears cryotreated or pushing vendors for a FP Red/blue/black line like Evos have.
Will hardpipes benefit high hp cars? Of course. But at this moment in time the only poing I am making is that one one is breaking the sound barrier with this car.... Does it have potential? Sure it does, cast iron block, oil squirters, fully aluminum head are all benefits that not all other subcompact cars have.
Im just saying at this point in time no one NEEDS the pipes. I would love to have some hardpipes with an intercooler upgrade. But there are so many other mods we can explore to gain HP.
OMG- I get what you're saying. Hard pipe would be better than stock (expansion, curvature, & way better longevity), but would be of little to no improvement over aftermarket silicone tubeing.
However a sonic pushing 23psi is putting nearly identical strain on plumbing as a supra pushing 23psi of boost or a tractor pushing 23psi of boost or a boat or plane pushing 23 psi of boost. Horsepower doesn't mean diddly to the plumbing. Which btw our "econoboxes" have been run up around 230hp for under $2k, how many 821hp mustang 5.0l do you see driving around? That's how much power a 5.0 engine would have to make to meet a tuned 1.4ts specific output (apples to oragnge comparisonbut tryue.) In which case per displacement our engines are on a lot of strain, sometimes these heavy duty componenets are worth more in longevity than performance. The stock soft tubeing was designed around 16 psi boost, we're at 23psi max on the stock turbo so the plumbings gonna fail faster unless upgraded
You are right the sonic is a cheap car and will never be the best racer but it has a ton of potential for its price point.
I agree with you that the pipes could be used for longevity and not power 100%. That was my main point in that pipes are not a good item for a significant amount power and that anyone looking for a lot of power from hard pipes will be dissappointed.
Will hardpipes be needed? Sure, eventually when the stock pipes either fail from fatigue or become restrictive and hinder hp.
